It’s late. I’m too tired for this, but I want to at least put something up for the sake of comments.
You really just can’t say enough good stuff about CMS so far. They’ve responded to immense adversity in dominant fashion and have toppled two very strong opponents as well as some of their own personal demons. Obviously, I’m rooting for Williams tomorrow just because their seniors have been through so much together, but you can’t ask for a better group of champions than these Stags.
As far as Williams goes, their seniors know that tomorrow (today) will be their last match as a team, and they know that it will take an immense effort to win. I know a lot of these guys are incredibly accomplished, but none of these players have played with the pressure of a team national championship on the line, and I like to think that is the greatest honor anyone can hope to achieve in their college careers. Winning an individual championship is nice, but this is THE big one. Who’s gonna rise to the occasion?
Williams won the tournament and played with energy, determination, skill, and desire. They earned the Big Prize. Sure, the Stags lost the tournament, finishing in second place. Actually, that was remarkable. In the final and most important week of their season, the Stags had to deal with the suspension of their #1 player and the emotional burden of the tragic circumstances surrounding it; the unsettling nature of making line-up adjustments in singles, which had nothing to do with player capability and everything to do with timing; creation of a new doubles team “on-the-fly”; and as a finishing touch to a bad week, the championship match was played indoors. Several Stags had never hit a tennis ball inside a building before,and Williams displayed a fast and furious frontal assualt style of play that oozed experience and comfort with indoor courts and environs. In the end, the Stags were no match for the Ephs. For all the reasons and all the talk in the world I can say the result could have been different, but it wasn’t. The Ephs earned their victory. Congratulations to Williams.
Perfect post….almost a metaphor for life…Williams need a little luck but luck is not enough…you have to be prepared to take advantage of the luck when it comes your way and Williams did that and more…this tourney may have been more about life lessons than tennis…Again, congrats to both Williams and CMS…may you take the lessons of tennis and use them to help you prosper in life!..
Great post…Williams earned this title and hopefully CMS earned the respect of the D 3 tennis community as well for a superb tourney….no need for any more snippy comments…
Yes and the delay itself can sap energy….that being said, champions make adjustments and Williams stayed focused until the end….This is a situation where both teams and coaches deserve the highest congratulations. Williams for winning it all and CMS for showing a resolve under adverse circumstances, the weather and indoor courts being the least of it….GO EPHS….GO STAGS….and again, thanks to this wonderful site…
Question of the day. Who is more clutch? Dr. Chow or LeBron?
CHOW
Man Chow is just playing TERRIBLE today so far huh? If I jinx it so be it but the previous suggestion was clownish.
Congrats to a great effort by a classy, inspired Williams team… Also, hats off to Coach Settles for being named D 3 Coach of the Year…Though he fell one match short, I am glad he is being recognized for a remarkable coaching achievement under trying circumstances….Well done Williams and CMS…makes you proud to be a fan of D 3 tennis…
I think williams will go up 2-1 after dubs. Whoever made the comment that chow was average sounds like someone bitter on the washu team. I think 1 singles could go either way. At 2 marino has a slight advantage maybe. At 3 I’ll go with Felix to take down 30 year old lane. At 4 and 6 I have no clue. But I think chow seals the deal for a 5-3 or 5-4 win. Williams has to go up in doubles though.
While we have some time before the final match I thought it would be nice to share my opinion about the individual tournament. Tanner Brown will win his first match against kahan and will go on to beat Ballou in the second. His dad won Kzoo twice…Brown family dont lose at the Zoo…Nuff said.
Looks like the Brown family does lose at Kalamazoo after all…
Maybe not a coincidence that the two teams that have, in my opinion, played the best doubles this year are in the championship?
I think CMS has the edge at #1 and #3 dubs, Williams at #2 dubs. Then my guess is CMS takes #1 or #2, #3 and #6 singles to clinch. Williams’ only hope is to play phenomenal dubs and win 2 out of 3 doubles matches against 3 very strong doubles teams and then play great at the top of their singles lineup as I think Dorn (if he is playing well), Marino, Lane and Johnson will be very tough to beat.
Captain clutch chow played out of the trees yesterday. Kid is not that good and an average 5 at best. No way he can do it again. He is definitely the underdog against senior Johnson.
Chow-Johnson will be one of the key matches of the day. Think the two Alexes, Lane and Johnson, will be play key roles in a Stag victory….obviously, the doubles sets everything up for either team.
I think it’s an extreme oversight to call Chow an average 5 at best. There’s a reason why he comes up big in matches. If just talent won you matches, CMS would already have about 5 national championships. All the matches have the potential to be great today.
I agree with your point about Chow, who’s clearly an excellent player and a fierce competitor. But when did it become a certainty that CMS had so much more so-called talent than other teams? Last time I checked, Amherst, to take a notable example, had two 5-stars whose tennisrecruiting.net rankings were astronomical.
Totally agree, I was making a point in the past about talent. Before the rest of D3 started catching up recruiting wise, CMS was definitely operating at a huge advantage talent wise. They just weren’t able to get over the hump whether because of some great hearted Cruz teams or failure to capitalize on the moment in nationals.
Great call right there
Thanks for your final thoughts…great site…I am pulling for CMS…like the gritty quality that Marino/Lane bring to the table…two classy teams….GO STAGS!…
Don’t forget the third place match too, which should be a doozy. Good to see all teams seem to be fully rested due to the short matches yesterday.